Phil Villarreal's Blog, page 109

PHIL ON FILM: "The Life of the Party"

For my written review, click here.

"Light Fall" Review

A ,2D, side-scrolling platformer with touches of Mario mixed in with some dark, moody tonal influences of "Limbo" and "Inside," "Light Fall" makes for a foreboding challenge to genre enthusiasts.

Bishop Games has crafted an airtight platformer that provides a stiff challenge to veterans, forcing you to master its entrancing series of physics rules, obstacles and enemy patterns.

Making elegant use of a spare, monochrome color palate, the dev team crafts a deep and haunting adventure with little to no hand-holding for newbies.

Expect to undergo plenty of trial-and-error, because sparsely-spaced checkpoints do you few favors. To survive and advance, you truly have to master the challenges set before you rather than luck your way through them.

The sense of accomplishment that comes with confronting and conquering a particularly challenging segment sticks to your ribs with resonance that a breezy difficulty couldn't hope to match.

While "Light Fall" may be too dark and challenging for gamers of meager talent and interest levels, it's a worthy pickup for those looking for something tough to chew on, giving such gamers more than enough reason to flip the switch.
Publisher provided review code.

"Three Fourths Home: Extended Edition" Switch Review

Games that can be played from beginning to end in a single sitting are a rarity, and those that fit those parameters and are well executed are all but nonexistent. "Three Fourths Home: Extended Edition" is a stark exception, excelling in its minimalist presentation to hoist writing and emotion to the forefront.

The 2015 Bracket Games visual novel makes its way to the Switch, where like so many other indie sensations it feels welcome and well-tailored to Nintendo's handheld/home console hybrid. The visuals are simple black-and-white silhouette of car driving through cornfield-lined freeways.

You tap through simple dialogue trees, learning that your protagonist is an early-20s washout who has grudgingly returned to her hometown to stay with her bickering parents and troubled brother. You're on edge because a tornado alarm has gone off, on the phone in stressed conversations with the fam. As the phone rotates among the three loved ones, tensions run high and resentments bubble to the surface.

You can open up and take an apologetic, accommodating tone, stiffen and mount an indifferent, bratty stance, or hop back and forth between the two outlooks. You're not only working the dialogue tree, it' also working you. The exchange feels organic, and it's all but impossible not to infuse your own feelings and life circumstances into the exchange.

While "Three Quarters Home" offers enough branching paths to be replayable -- and completionists will no doubt return again and again to unlock the different outcomes -- I can't see it likely to enjoy the game more than you will during the initial playthrough, when you are thrown into the situation blind and lacking any preconceived notions of bending the story to your goals. A raw, often devastating experience, "Three Fourths Home" is a gripping play and a great read.
Publisher provided review code.

"Earthlock" Review

With turn-based JRPGs haven fallen out of fashion, it's refreshing to see indie developers take some swings at reinventing the genre. Snow Castle Games' "Earthlock," which debuted with the subtitle "Festival of Magic" two years ago on other systems, seeks to capture the nostalgic yearning for older "Final Fantasy"-type games via the Switch.

Those looking for something lived-in and familiar will appreciate the game's bones. This is a standard save-the-realm quest, complete with a party you can use to quest for upgradable weapons and abilities as you venture down the linear path.

Speed and efficiency are not virtues that will get you far in "Earthlock." Exploration and experimentation are the order of the day, with an agrarian economy that tasks you to tend gardens to accumulate wealth and resources that will serve you well in battle.

While too slow for some tastes, "Earthlock" offers enough unique spins on well-worn material to appeal to JRPG fanatics and former fans who have let their tastes lapse over the years. The Switch continues to make a welcome home for unorthodox titles -- especially those with old-school flavor -- and that proves true here.
Publisher provided review code.

"Dragon's Crown Pro" Review

When it takes a developer five years to remake a game, it basically seems new. That's the case with "Dragon's Crown," a bubbly 2013 2D hack-and-slasher that's managed to improve with age, as well as minor visual and gameplay upgrades.

The base game was solid, if not memorable enough to endure in the public consciousness for half a decade. You choose a medieval adventurer and bludgeon your way through an army of evildoers. Branching paths open up along the way, upping the replay value by freshening up your journey depending on the hero you choose and the choices you make along the way.

Those who have stuck with the PS3 version -- a truly bizarre choice reserved solely for die-hards -- can step into modern society by joining PS4 players in cross-platform co-op. The rare feature may not expand the player base much, but is such an intriguing novelty that it may spark you to dust off your PS3 just to test out the functionality for kicks.

With characters who appear to have stepped out of stylized high fantasy covers from dusty used bookstore shelves, charm is abundant. The wizard/warrior/sorceress archetypes bring to mind quarter-slurping arcade games such as "Gauntlet" and "Dragon's Lair."

A fitting hole-filler for any PS4 player looking for yet another reason to disconnect their old PS3.
Publisher provided review code.

"AO International Tennis" Review

With "Top Spin" and "Virtua Tennis" having long since foot-faulted, there's a doubles court-sized opening for an indie interloper to come in, land a smash and seize straight-sets control of the tennis si genre.

BigAnt Studios swings and misses with "AO International Tennis," starting with a head-scratching lack of ambition. Fashioning itself as a realistic tennis sim, the licenses round up a scattershot selection of pros, featuring Rafael Nadal and a short list of "who's that?" rather than "who's who."

Likewise, the tournament selection is bizarrely thin, with the Australian Open being the lone Grand Slam event to show up. The lack of licenses, no doubt due to a lack of funding, is an alarming but surmountable setback. The squad behind Konami's equally hampered "PES" franchise routinely shows up its better-pedigreed rival in "FIFA."

But the poor licensing turnout is a harbinger of the other flaws. There is little of Rafa's serve-and-volley specialty to be found, with any attempt at charging the net resulting in an embarrassing loss of a point. The best way to hang in is to go full Sampras, sit on the baseline and wait for the opponent to make a mistake. This unexciting brand of tennis flows into every other aspect of the game, from the menus to the game modes and customization.

A vanilla tennis sim  that disappoints more than inspires, "AO International Tennis" lacks the punch to stand up to the upcoming "Mario Tennis Aces," which isn't even a true competitor. Instead of providing hope for the resurrection of the tennis sim, this lackadaisical game just acts as evidence as to why people stopped caring about video game tennis alogether.
Publisher provided review code.

"Death Road to Canada" Review

"Death Road to Canada" will bring knowing smiles to anyone who has gone on a road trip with know-it-all friends. Cramped quarters, limited resources and tight deadlines have a way of emphasizing constant bickering, one-upmanship and second-guessing.

Such burdens only intensify if you throw a zombie apocalypse into the mix.

A punishing roguelike with delightful 16-bit graphics, "Death Row to Canada" takes on another trademark of road trips -- the long, slow slog. Although the game never bores, it's often excruciating due to the overwhelming burdens it thrusts upon you.

As undead hordes swarm around you, you scavenge for weapons, crafting materials and food. When you don't scrounge up exactly what your buddies need, expect them to gripe. You'll find yourself constantly weighing long-term desires against short-term needs.

Do you venture into a zombie-swarmed catacomb to try to unearth some goods that will help you make it to the next stop, or do you cut and run in hopes of surviving on meager resources? This "Oregon Trail" dynamic may be stress-inducing, but it keeps you on your toes.

The quirks and intricacies of "Death Road to Canada" are what keep you coming back for more despite the brutal punishments it doles out. As entertaining and engaging as the experience can be, you're relieved when it's all over.
Publisher provided review code.

"Don't Die, Mr. Robot" Switch Review

Blending the single-screen bullet hell stylings of "Geometry Wars" with the upgradeable options of an RPG lite, "Don't Die, Mr. Robot DX" offers a hectic quest for survival amid mounting odds.

With enemies materializing all around the grid, you're always scampering to endure as many extra seconds of life as you can muster. A superimposed counter tracks your ill-fated progress, nudging you to top your previous best score, snag a medal and etch your legendary status in the memory bank.

The certainty of your demise focuses you on concentrating your efforts to use all your resources -- guns, mobility and strategic maneuvering -- to fight to the last.

While the Switch version offers minimal upgrades and enhancements, the bite-size download is appealing to system owners looking for a light palate cleaners in between heavier undertakings.

Mr. Robot dies hard with a vengeance.

Publisher provided review code.

Book Report: "The Arabian Nights"

The Arabian Nights by Anonymous
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I went in expecting lighthearted, whimsical "Aladdin"-style hijinks but what I got was a monotonous, occasionally disturbing collection of sadistic fables. Grimm, Aesop and Homer can't touch The Arabian Nights in terms of darkness or depravity. Rape, slavery, beheadings and castrations are as common as breathing in these stories, which are remarkable mainly for their absurdity.

While serving as an intriguing look into the fabric of Arabian culture, the material is as dense and foreboding as religious scripture. Getting through it is as as masochistic an undertaking as reading through "Moby-Dick," "War and Peace" or "Great Expectations." You read it not out of pleasure or interest, but out of sheer, stubborn will to defeat it and claim it as a trophy on your mental mantle.

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PHIL ON FILM: "Overboard"

For my written review, click here.